Cover art by Courtney Trowbridge
Logo design by Garret Ross

Style: Thrash Metal, Progressive Metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Trivium, Orbit Culture, Sylosis
Country: USA (California)
Release date: 25 April 2025

Modern thrash metal is always hit or miss, and for good reason; the genre has been around nearly as long as metal itself has existed as a broader style of music. One could (and many do!) argue that all of the good ideas have already been taken, and that anything released after some arbitrary point in the 90’s is derivative slop. This does not stop bands from trying their hand at the style though, often introducing outside influence in an attempt to spice things up. Wisdom & Fools are one such group, a California based progressive thrash metal duo who describes Prophecy on their bandcamp page as “36 minutes of breathtaking modern thrash.” Well, I quite like many a modern progressive thrash metal album, and my respiratory rhythm has been far too stable for far too long if you ask me. Maybe a debut by some young blood in the scene is just what I need in lieu of an asthma flare up. Can Prophecy match the thrilling exhilaration of a particularly intense coughing fit? The short answer is no. The long answer is contained within Prophecy’s 36 minutes of undercooked thrash metal writing.

Within the first minute and a half of its runtime, Prophecy already comes across as disjointed and half-baked. Starting with the aptly named “Escaping Eden,” titled—I assume—after the track making whatever I was doing just before hitting play seem like paradise in comparison. A mid tempo 16th note tremolo awkwardly kicks things off, stumbling towards one of the most boring thrash riffs I’ve heard in a long while, and culminating in what I think is supposed to be a chorus but could also just be a bad metalcore breakdown. On a cursory listen, the fumbled songwriting may be redeemed somewhat by the proficient and at times even impressive performances, but they fail to bring any real staying power.

Wisdom & Fools’ guitar and vocal duties are handled by Philip Vargas, who is equally competent at both, and whose riffs are often mirrored by bandmate John Ramirez’s bass rumblings. The two have good chemistry, though the lack of a live drummer ends up dragging both of them down. Vargas’ vocal performance sounds like a mix between Ihsahn and New American Gospel-era Randy Blythe (Lamb of God); it’s a surprisingly versatile timbre, but the performance ends up being disappointingly monotone as Vargas never seems to take full advantage of his range. Both members seem to have handled production duties, and they’ve done a decent job at it, though it is quite loud and similarly exacerbated by the programmed drums. 

As “Escaping Eden” plods along, revealing Wisdom & Fools’ performative quirks, it also betrays their so-called “progressive” take on thrash metal, which boils down to phrases having extra beats tacked on at the end. Sure, it works the first few times, but eventually you come to expect it, and the “progressive” elements become stale and predictable. “Children of Disgrace” is somehow even more lacking in the songwriting department. Stilted thrash riffs trudge ahead and culminate in another chorus that misses the mark, except the chorus here is much worse; the intro riff comes back, but boringly simplified for some reason, and the band completely drops out at the apex of the phrase, killing all momentum only for the vocalist to rasp out the title of the song as if it were made by a 2000s hip-hop producer. “The Devil in a House of God” continues the trend of questionable choruses, this time with a riff that is lifted straight out of Celtic Frost’s “Into the Crypts of Rays,” which just confuses me more than anything. The ending of the song, though, is the first moment on Prophecy that made my ears perk up, because Wisdom & Fools stops playing riffs for a moment and focuses on an ostinato melody in the lead guitar with descending power chords providing a nice harmonic context. It turns out Wisdom & Fools actually have a knack for simple yet effective melodic development, and moments like this pop up periodically over the rest of Prophecy’s runtime, though they are not quite enough to salvage the banal thrash writing they accompany. 

The title track has the most potential as a thrash metal song proper, housing some of the better actual riffs on Prophecy, but is once again dragged down by the programmed drums. Prophecy’s drum parts are stilted and awkward, settling into beats that are impossible to get used to despite their repetition. One gets the sense that these drum parts were not written by a drummer, and most of the problems with Prophecy could be dampened or straight up solved by just getting a live drummer and a bit more of an intimate production. The back half of Prophecy is thankfully better than the front, but this is because Wisdom & Fools seem to forget that they are supposed to be a thrash metal band, and start writing metalcore songs that just kind of flirt with thrash metal techniques. Really, Prophecy sounds like a metalcore outfit who set out with the intention to write a raging thrash metal record, but ran out of steam halfway through and resorted back to writing metalcore. “Divinity” through “Perpetuals” is a decent run of songs when compared to the rest of the lot, and proves that Wisdom & Fools strengths lie in their melodic sensibilities, not awkward thrash riffs. Unfortunately, this streak doesn’t last, and Prophecy ends leaving a sour taste in my mouth with the unnecessary, derivative, and aptly named “Husk”. 

At the end of the day, Wisdom & Fools lack the bite that is required of this style of music, and even the occasional inspired lead guitar line isn’t enough to save them. The thrash riffs are mediocre, and the programmed drums drag the entire experience down even further. As it stands, Prophecy is an underdeveloped debut with lots of room to grow, though I’m worried that, in this case, dredging through the mud in search of pearls may not be a worthwhile endeavor. 

Recommended tracks: Prophecy, Divinity, Thorns
You may also like: Death Mex, Arsena, Venus
Final verdict: 3.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Label: Okända Öden Records – Bandcamp

Wisdom & Fools is:
– John Ramirez – Bass, Production
– Philip Vargas – Guitars, Vocals, Production

The post Review: Wisdom & Fools – Prophecy appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Art Rock, Alternative Rock, Experimental Rock (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Gogol Bordello, The Darkness, Scissor Sisters
Country: Ohio, United States
Release date: 20 March 2025

Fans of heavy, off-kilter, piano-driven rock in the mid aughts needed to look no further than Foxy Shazam to satisfy their cravings. The band exploded onto the scene with a pair of infectious progressive post-hardcore-inspired albums before polishing their sound and breaking into the mainstream with 2010’s arena rock anthem “Unstoppable”: heard in movies and on TV and licensed in some capacity by nearly every major professional sports league in the United States. But the band’s fifth album, Gonzo, marked a drastic change of sound, trading the energy and glam of their earlier work for a mellower flavour of alternative rock. Reception seemed less than stellar – Foxy Shazam released Gonzo for free, cut their promotional tour short, and went on hiatus shortly thereafter.

Since returning in 2020, the band have put out a handful of forgettable albums; their heavy, progressive roots seemed all but shriveled and dead. But in late January of this year, Foxy released the first single from their new album, Animality Opera, “Rhumbatorium”. And let me tell you, dear reader, that irreverent, energetic, experimental single provided a glimmer of hope.  Was it a return to form? Had the erratic, in-your-face Foxy Shazam of days gone by finally returned?

Nope.

The title, Animality Opera, must be purposefully ironic because this latest work is neither operatic nor animalistic. “Pink Sky”, the second single from the album, is reminiscent of their Gonzo era: milquetoast alternative rock that sounds like it was written specifically to be played in grocery stores, save for a spoken word outro featuring sophomoric, nonsensical lines like “nobody wants to be the rock inside of the clown’s sock”. Foxy have done the spoken word shtick before, but it is noticeably more prominent (and irritating) on this latest release. “Karaoke Pain” is a perfect example of the stylistic rut Foxy have found themselves in for the past decade; the pre-chorus begins with the lyrics “this is the part where we can lose control, the place where we can just let that shit go” and leads into… nothing. No soaring vocals, no wild guitar solo, not even a piano slide or a drum fill. Instead, just a sparse, phoned-in vocal performance. Twice we are teased with the possibility of actually losing control and twice we are let down. Fool me once…

Moments of inspired songwriting exist in Animality Opera, but they are few and far between. The piano-driven ballad “Uncreated” is a highlight in this sense: it builds slowly, adding tastefully muted guitar, strings, and horns, building repeatedly to a moderate vocal climax. The lyrics are equal parts truly beautiful (“Take it all away, you can see on forever. Silhouettes of the days we shared hold me together.”) and goofy (“Even in the Starbucks bathroom, this will never change.”). “Uncreated” is a microcosm of the softer side of Foxy Shazam; and is thankfully free of the ill-conceived spoken word sections which mar many of the tracks on this album.

But “Rhumbatorium” is the standout track on Animality. It’s dynamic, energetic, and catchy; but mainly it’s just plain fun. Foxy have been taking themselves too seriously and it’s nice to see them let loose again. Lyrically, “Rhumbatorium” gets straight to the point: “All music is shit and the world is a toilet bowl. Sit down on the throne and push out some rock and roll.” It’s hard to tell if Foxy are having a go at the rest of the music industry or are just being defensive here. The next line is “I don’t know, I just don’t get it. Well then it’s not for you.” More than one track on Animality seems to take aim at the naysayers: earlier on the album “You Don’t Judge The Birds” asks “Why are they so mean? What did I do wrong? … You don’t judge the birds for singing in the morning.” That’s true, but the birds aren’t charging thirty bucks per performance.

Animality is otherwise mostly devoid of the raw energy that characterized Foxy‘s early career and the operatic bombast that came after. “Joseph” and “Dragonfly Chase” would be impressive if they were written by your roommate’s band, but they’re just not up to the (admittedly high) bar Foxy set for themselves with their earlier releases. They push no boundaries. They take no risks. “Jack Tar” is reminiscent of—but less polished than—Arctic Monkeys‘ Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino… and just when you thought you’d gotten away from them, those damned spoken word sections return. They add nothing. They detract from whatever energy these songs are trying to build.

By and large, Animality Opera feels phoned in. Following four other unremarkable albums over the past decade, Foxy seem to be doing everything they can to avoid repeating the success they had in 2010. Is it artistic bankruptcy? Is it laziness? Is it an extended performance art piece where the band are trying to see how many aggressively mediocre albums they can put out in a row while still maintaining some semblance of a fan base? Who’s to say. All I know is that heavy metal sucks and Foxy Shazam’s dead.

R.I.P.

Recommended tracks: Rhumbatorium, Uncreated
You may also like: Jellyfish, The Venetia Fair
Final verdict: 3.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram

Label: EEEOOOAH – Facebook

Foxy Shazam is:
– Eric Nally (vocals)
– Schuyler “Sky” White (keyboards)
– Alex Nauth (horns, backing vocals)
– Teddy Aitkins (drums)
– Existential Youth (formerly known as Trigger Warning and The Persistent Savage) (bass guitar)
– Devin Williams (guitar)

The post Review: Foxy Shazam – Animality Opera appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Progressive Metal, Folk Metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Ensiferum, Amorphis, RuneScape music
Review by: Dave
Country: Norway
Release date: 14 June 2024

Quite often, we discuss among ourselves at the Subway our favorite album covers of the year. One subject that arises commonly over album art is that of tasteful ideas vs. tasteful execution: one without the other can result in an ultimately unfinished product. Whether it be a good idea that isn’t done well or a bad idea that’s done expertly, both create offensive end results in their own way. And this is not a problem solely relegated to album art, as albums themselves can just as easily collapse under the weight of their own poor decisions. Norway’s Dreamslain offers us an opportunity to study this phenomenon through example, as their latest release, Forge of Rebellion, is an excellent showcase of some good ideas that are done exceedingly poorly. Let’s discuss.

It’s hard to listen to Dreamslain and not think of Arcturus, as the two bands have a very similar instrumental approach: like The Sham Mirrors before it, Forge of Rebellion centers itself on drums and keyboards. Guitars and bass are certainly present, but they step out of their role as textural tools a handful of times across the entirety of the album, leaving the keyboards and pianos to excel and compensate for the limited riff showcase. Additionally, both Forge of Rebellion and The Sham Mirrors have bad vocals: The Sham Mirrors executes its bizarre, yodel-y, and occasionally unpolished vocal delivery in an overwhelmingly charming manner, coming across as fittingly alien given its space motifs, but in the case of Forge of Rebellion, it doesn’t work at all, featuring very few moments where the vocals coalesce into something listenable.

I appreciate that Igor Jakobsen is going for an epic and dramatic delivery somewhere in between Arcturus’s Garm and Jari Mäenpää (Ensiferum, Wintersun) on tracks like “Burn the Boats” and “Braving the Storm,” but more often than not the vocals come across as nails on a chalkboard. One of the worst offenders is “Ghost Story,” which manages a competent harsh vocal performance, but the clean-sung verses pair one of the most unpleasant vocal melodies on the entire album with a grating execution. It’s a real shame, too, as I appreciate Forge of Rebellion’s lyricism, coming from a place of empathy for those who experience tragedy at the hands of tyrannical hegemonies, such as the myriad marginalized groups affected by the Holocaust on “Ghost Story” or the moving and impassioned plea for help to refugees on “Braving the Storm,” but it is difficult to fully engage with these themes due to the nature of the vocal delivery.

The vocals are not the end of Forge of Rebellion’s issues, as they are unpleasant on their own but also fall victim to overarching missteps in the production, a problem which touches virtually all of the instrumentation: decent ideas have to actively work against sounds that at first grate my sensibilities and have me pulling my mohawk out by “The Dragon of Ice.” I don’t like to harp too much on bad production, especially for underground bands and even more so when a lo-fi production is an intentional artistic choice, but this was produced by a professional. Perhaps the onus lies on not-so-tasteful tones chosen during recording, or maybe they were simply done dirty by their producer, but whatever the cause, the end result wholly sabotages Dreamslain’s ideas: mastering issues emerge from Forge of Rebellion’s very beginning, opening “Secrets of the Forge” with a muddy guitar whose presence is made obvious throughout the record despite its role as a textural tool thanks to its unbecoming and grainy tone. The keyboards lead a considerable number of ideas, but similarly to the guitars, the timbre of the keyboards can be particularly piercing in their higher register, particularly on “Secrets of the Forge” and “The Dragon of Ice,” and even though a variety of keyboard sounds are used across Forge of Rebellion to differing degrees of success, beginning the record with the worst keyboard tone sets a terrible precedent for the listener.

I know I have come across fairly harsh so far, and fittingly so, as only so many poorly executed elements can exist in a single piece before the underlying ideas are effectively ruined, but do not take my review as a full condemnation of Forge of Rebellion, as underneath its irrefutable shortcomings one can find surprisingly engaging compositional structures. “Ghost Story”’s juxtaposition of piano against both calmer and more intense sections is executed to great effect, and Dreamslain’s songwriting approaches the style of later Amorphis on “Secrets of the Forge” and “Braving the Storm,” flowing marvelously from idea to idea and leaving lots of room to explore the more acoustically pleasant Hammond organ sounds, making me think of the extended jams on Amorphis’s “As Mountains Crumble” and “We Accursed,” respectively. My favorite facet of Forge of Rebellion, though, is the MIDI-esque harpsichord peppered throughout each track, conjuring the RuneScape-music feel of Moonsorrow’s Kivenkantaja in a manner that is undeniably charming: while the first instance of “Secrets of the Forge”’s keyboards are grating, the synthesizers that follow give me hope that there is something to love here. And love them I do, as it is likely the only instrument besides maybe the drums that isn’t actively tarnished by the production and could actually find benefit in Forge of Rebellion’s sound design.

A bevy of poor execution choices leads to a frustrating listening experience that dims the light shone by Forge of Rebellion’s positive facets and interesting ideas. It’s truly disappointing, because I have quite the affinity for Dreamslain’s songwriting approach; I greatly appreciate the empathetic point of view that centers Forge of Rebellion; and the RuneScape synths are undeniably charming, but my love for these elements simply cannot be reconciled with the tepid guitar tone, ear-shattering mixing, and unforgivable clean vocal performance. Were Igor to take some time to perfect his vocal approach and were the band to more appropriately craft and produce their sonic palette, I would have a much more glowing review to share, but as it stands, I simply cannot endorse Forge of Rebellion. However, I will gladly hold out hope that the future is bright for Dreamslain, given they approach their ideas in a more tasteful manner next time.

Recommended tracks: Ghost Story, Braving the Storm
You may also like: Arcturus, Wandering Oak, Eldamar, Thrawsunblat
Final verdict: 3.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page | RateYourMusic page

Label: Independent release

Dreamslain is:
– Igor Jakobsen (guitars, vocals, bass)
– Anna Loppacher (piano, organ, cembalo)
– Daniel Paulsen Figenschou (drums)

The post Review: Dreamslain – Forge of Rebellion appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: Experimental progressive rock (instrumental)
Review by: Nick
Country: UK
Release date: 7 May, 2021

Voronoi is an experimental progressive rock trio hailing from Leeds who just released their debut album, The Last Three Seconds. Coming in at just under 50 minutes, this album blends together avant-garde jazz, contemporary jazz, metal, and electronic music to create a very…unique sound. And while I appreciate the effort for originality, I feel like it doesn’t quite pan out.

There’s a lot that I want to get into and the best place to start would probably be the production. You’ll notice right from the first track that this album is almost painfully bright. It’s well produced, sure, but that focus on the brighter range damns it from having depth in terms of the dynamics in the album. In moments where there’s a big climax like on “Home Could Be Lightyears Away”, the disproportionate focus on the high end leaves the mix feeling like an assault of noise. It’s okay to focus on the high end at parts (the focus there actually benefits the more reserved sections of the album) but leaving all of the focus there and not giving the lower range any presence just ends up hurting the overall sound of the album.

Another point I wanted to touch on is the compositions themselves. Pretty much every track less than five minutes feels almost like a voice memo, like it’s a snippet of a larger track that they came up with that they recorded for future reference. Take the opening track for example, “Interstellar Something”. The entire track is just a couple chords being toyed around with for three and a half minutes. It’s not necessarily bad, it just feels half-baked and uninteresting. Half-baked is actually a great single-term summary for how I feel about this album, because even most of the tracks that try to deviate from their starting point feel like rough demos.

Possibly the worst example I can come up with for this is “Darker The Night” which starts with a haunting synth intro that abruptly leads into a piano part that feels like a song ripped from a video game. This beautiful piano part builds up an intense atmosphere and great tension that is just thrown in the bin by a seemingly progressive metal section. This song could rip, it has all the components to rip, and yet it’s so undercooked that it just sounds rough. The closest they get to a really solid song on the first half of the album is “The Nauseator” which is a sprawling ten minute piece. But even with a full ten minutes to smooth out each section, it still just feels like a mish mash of variations on a certain melody without any real cohesion.

This isn’t to say there aren’t good moments. In fact the final three tracks are actually quite great, especially the 12 minute long “The Outsider and The Priest”. Throughout each of these tracks you can see a strong, coherent approach that was lacking during the five prior tracks. The songs naturally grow and morph into their own beings rather than feel like a taped together collage of takes on one part, and the genres are perfectly combined whereas before they felt splotched together. The title track takes a tense electronic approach with those avant-garde elements and video game music. “The Outsider and The Priest” goes full on jazz for the vast majority of the track and leans back into the realm of progressive rock just over two thirds in. And finally the earlier mentioned final track, “Home Could Be Lightyears Away”, takes a sort of post rock approach to the song structure. It builds up tension until the last quarter of the track where they can go all out in a cacophony of noise.

It’s these three tracks that make me so goddamn disappointed with the rest of the album. These tracks show exactly what Voronoi is capable of. Had these tracks not been on here I may not have been as brutal in this review. I may have been able to chalk it up to a case of an experiment that didn’t work or a band that has yet to find their sound, but with these three tracks I just can’t do that. With these three tracks I just feel like I listened to a solid three song EP with an extra 25 minutes tacked on to the start. It’s a shame, but at the same time I’m left hopeful at what they might do in the future.

Recommended tracks: The Priest and The Outsider, The Last Three Seconds, Home Could Be Lightyears Away
Recommended for fans of: Tigran Hamasyan, avant garde jazzy prog
Final verdict: 3.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook

Label: Independent

Voronoi is:
– Sam Quintana (bass)
– Tom Higham (drums)
– Aleks Podraza (keyboard)

The post Review: Voronoi – The Last Three Seconds appeared first on The Progressive Subway.